José María Barreda Fontes (born 4 February 1953) is a Spanish politician and historian. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), he served as President of the Junta of Communities of Castilla–La Mancha from 2004 until 2011.[1] As of 2019, he works as senior lecturer of Contemporary History at the University of Castilla–La Mancha.[2]
Barreda, who was born in Ciudad Real, is a descendant of a Spanish noble family and holds a doctorate in history and geography and a BA in philosophy and letters from the Complutense University of Madrid.[3] He received a scholarship from the Spanish National Research Council to fund his post-doctoral research and is currently a tenured professor of contemporary history at the University of Castile-La Mancha.[3]
Barreda met his wife, Clementina Díez de Baldeón, a socialist deputy for the Province of Ciudad Real, while still at university; the couple have two children.[3]
Barreda's first elected position was to the municipal council of Ciudad Real, a post he held from 1983-1987.[4] During that period, he was the Minister for Education and Culture in the first regional Government of José Bono.[4] As a Minister, he oversaw the creation of the University of Castile-La Mancha, launched the regional network of libraries, cultural centres, theatres and auditoria, and organised the conversion of the library at the Alcázar of Toledo.[4]
Barreda became the regional Minister for Institutional Relations in January 1988; he only held the portfolio for four months, however, as he became the region's vice-president in May of the same year.[5] He served as vice-president until November 1989, when the Cortes of Castile-La Mancha—the regional parliament—appointed him to be one of the region's two representatives in the Spanish Senate.[5] He returned to Castile-La Mancha in June 1991 to serve as the President of the Cortes Regionales.[5] Barreda remained in the post until July 1997, when he was forced to resign following his appointment as the regional general-secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party.[5] Following the 1999 regional elections, Barreda returned to his old post of vice-president of Castile-La Mancha.[5]
In April 2004, after more than 20 years as President of Castile-La Mancha, Bono was named as the Minister of Defence in José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero newly elected government.[5] Barreda took over from Bono as President of Castile-La Mancha and was his party's candidate in the 2007 regional elections, where he retained his position, albeit with a reduced majority.[5]
